Understanding How Online Diagnostics Work

With online diagnostics, you can test and verify the hardware functionality of the switch while the switch is connected to a live network.

The online diagnostics contain packet switching tests that check different hardware components and verify the data path and the control signals.

The online diagnostics detect problems in these areas:

•Hardware components

•Interfaces (Ethernet ports and so forth)

•Solder joints

Online diagnostics are categorized as on-demand, scheduled, or health-monitoring diagnostics. On-demand diagnostics run from the CLI; scheduled diagnostics run at user-designated intervals or at specified times when the switch is connected to a live network; and health-monitoring runs in the background.

Scheduling Online Diagnostics

You can schedule online diagnostics to run at a designated time of day or on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis for a specific switch. Use the no form of this command to remove the scheduling.

Beginning in global configuration mode, use this command to schedule online diagnostics:

Configuring Health-Monitoring Diagnostics

You can configure health-monitoring diagnostic testing on a specified switch while the switch is connected to a live network. You can configure the execution interval for each health-monitoring test, whether or not to generate a system message upon a test failure, or to enable or disable an individual test. Use the no form of this command to disable testing.

Beginning in global configuration mode, use these commands to configure health-monitoring diagnostics:

This example shows how to enable the generation of a syslog message when any health monitoring test fails:

Switch(config)# diagnostic monitor syslog

Running Online Diagnostic Tests

After you configure online diagnostics, you can start diagnostic tests or display the test results. You can also see which tests are configured for each switch and what diagnostic tests have already run.

These sections describe how to run online diagnostic tests after they have been configured: